The present invention relates to the field of lighting and, more particularly, to using individual cluster-level power regulation circuits to extend light-emitting diode (LED) light life.
Recent trends have made it commonplace to replace energy-inefficient incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs with energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs. The benefits of LED light bulbs include low energy consumption, long life, low heat production, slow failure, and the ability to be quickly cycled on and off. The life of an LED light is affected by environmental variables like temperature and operational variables like current and voltage. These variables are often difficult to control, particularly in large indoor spaces (i.e., industrial lighting) or outdoor spaces (i.e., streetlights) and systems where the LED lights have been retrofitted.
Heat sinks are generally used to address the issue of temperature fluctuations, while power conversion and/or regulation circuitries are used to control power fluctuations. However, conventional power regulation approaches address the LED light as a whole. This approach is insufficient for high-powered LED light fixtures that support multiple, distinct clusters or arrangements of LEDs like those taught in U.S. Patent Application GTL12001.
The conventional approach assumes that the LED arrangements are identical in composition (e.g., quantity of LEDs) as well as usage. Such an approach would drastically decrease the overall performance of the LED light fixtures described in U.S. Patent Application GTL12001. That is, the power regulation for an LED arrangement having seven LEDs will be different than the power regulation for an LED arrangement having three LEDs. Treating these LED arrangements identically, in terms of power regulation, will affect the performance of the LEDs of the arrangements.